James McAvoy offers to play young Picard in Patrick Stewart's new 'Star Trek' series
James McAvoy really liked playing a younger version of Sir Patrick Stewart in the X-Men franchise, so much so, he now wants another go.
Though this time he’s offered to play a young Jean-Luc Picard in Stewart’s new Star Trek series.
The Scottish actor volunteered his talents on Instagram in a comment underneath a picture of the Star Trek captain with the writing team for the new show.
“Need a flashback guy????” McAvoy wrote. “Just saying @sirpatstew I’ve got previous experience and will work for autographs.”
OK, so maybe it’s a joke but, to be fair, he did a great job of playing young Charles Xavier in First Class and Days of Future Past.
The Scot will reprise his mutant role in the upcoming X-Men sequel Dark Phoenix though Stewart will not be making an appearance after confirming his retirement from the role, following his stellar final outing in Logan.
Dark Phoenix is currently undergoing reshoots reportedly after it suffered scathing reviews from test screenings. There was also a leak on Reddit claiming a major character dies at the end of it.
Meanwhile, Sir Patrick has begun pre-production in his Star Trek series which marks the return of his iconic captain, fourteen years after The Next Generation came to an end.
Stewart’s series ran from 1987 to 1994 and followed Jean-Lu Picard’s crew on the starship Enterprise as they explored the final frontier. The TNG crew continued to appear in the Star Trek films, making their last appearance on screen together in 2002’s Star Trek: Nemesis.
In the picture posted to his Instagram page, the veteran actor sits with A Beautiful Mind writer Akiva Goldsman, Star Trek: Voyager novelist and Discovery writer Kirsten Beyer, Spider-Man 2’s Michael Chabon, newcomer Diandra Pendleton-Thompson and Star Trek: Enterprise writer James Duff.
It’s unclear the exact plot of the film but there are rumours that the series could be set at Star Fleet Academy with Picard now its head. In The Next Generation, the captain is offered the job on several occasions so it would make sense that at this point in his career he might be doing less exploring and more education.
It would also explain the absence of his crew who have not been asked back, according to Marina Sirtis (aka Deanna Troi).
Dark Phoenix is in cinemas Valentine’ Day, 2019. Watch a video of James McAvoy interviewing Sir Patrick Stewart for X-Men: Days of Future Past below.
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